Thank you for all your reviews! I feel so loved!

Bleh, school's starting and I'm going to die this year. SAT and stupid AP history. . . And I have the worst teachers possible! TT

Wish me luck. . . And don't expect so many frequent updates now. I'll do my best to keep writing.

Oh yeah, the websites didn't show up for the last chapter, so just copy and paste (Take out the spaces first!)

www. Bleach7. com

www. Bleachportal. com

www. stoptazmo. com

www. bleachdi. com

Disclaimer: If Bleach was mine, I wouldn't be writing this fic.

- - - - -

Kurosaki Karin was not having a good day. No, in fact she was in an extremely irritated mood that made her want to scream in frustration and go on a childish rampage. How could THIS happen!

Stomp.

Stomp.

Stomp. Oh darn, she squished a bug. . .

The black-haired girl purposely stomped her worn out sneakers against the pavement as hard as she could not caring if the stupid insect was now nothing more but a memory of a smear across the pavement.

Stupid boys! I'm a thousand times better then them! How could they do this to me! Karin fumed with rage as she started to squeeze her soccer ball harder and harder until air started to leak out of the seams. "I'll get them. . . They'll be sorry! Gah! I HATE boys!"

The eleven-year old felt cheated. She made a face- girls could play soccer as well as boys! But NO. . . Those buttheads think that they could have an 'all boy's' game and NOT have the star player on their team. . . Wait until she got her golden opportunity. Those morons won't know what hit them!

"Ch, who wants to play with them anyways? They're just dumb guys." Karin muttered to herself, as she couldn't help but shiver. Her arms prickled with Goosebumps, as an unseen force seemed to be breathing down her neck. The streets seemed to become darker and far more frightening even if the sun was going down.

The street lamps flickered on and off, as it created shadows that were monster-like. Karin's eyes narrowed slightly, shaking her fist in the air. "All right! Who's there? Come out or I'll let you have some of this! I'm warning you. . ."

A sinister chuckle hissed from the darkness that it was a part of, unheard by the girl. Oh soon, soon it'll feast upon her sweet soul. Little children were the most satisfying by far. So young and tender. . . it couldn't wait.

On the other side of the street, a tall figure wearily sighed and ran his hand through his bleached hair. "Man, I finally found you. Now all I have to do is use Zangetsu and. . ." A sudden realization made him visibly blanch. "Damn it! When I get back, I'm going to KILL that bastard Urahara!"

- - - - - (Earlier that Day) - - - - -

"Ah. So nice of you to join me today!" Urahara greeted his Vice-Captain with his usual cheerful manner by waving his fan around. "As you can see, today's meeting will only consist of. . . us!" You could practically see the bubbly heart at the end of his sentence.

His eyebrows knitted together into an agitated furrow, the said so young man scowled darkly and helped himself to a seat. "Now what the hell do you want Urahara?"

Shaking his index finger disapprovingly, the blonde haired man tittered, "It's Captain Urahara. My, my. . . Have you already forgotten your manners boy?" He hid his beaming smile with his white fan, immensely enjoying his young protégé's strangled scowl.

"Meh, whatever." The irritated Shinigami glowered unpleasantly at his elated fool of a captain. "What do you want now?" He set a steely glare that promised excruciating pain if Urahara didn't start explaining himself in about three seconds. "If it's another wild goose chase after ANOTHER nonexistent Hollow, I'm officially gonna request to old man Yamamoto to put me in another squad."

The Vice Captain stressed the word 'nonexistent'. Gods knew how he put up of THREE DAYS of nothing but rain and snow to find out that it was his twisted Captain's way of having fun watching him flounder around lost in the middle of nowhere.

Sounding slightly wounded, Urahara dramatically pulled out a piece of paper with flourish from his Captain's Haori. "Don't you have any faith? It's rather a long-term assignment that you'll find rather interesting. . . I trust that you can find an extra Gigai in the Laboratories, I'm afraid that you'll be needing one."

Suspiciously reading the contents over the Soul Reaper's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious! Is this kind of thing allowed? And why the HELL do I need a faux body?"

"Now, now. . . I'm sure that you can see this as a way to rejoin human society again, at least for the time being. There's been numerous reports that more Hollows are appearing in the human world, but the Shinigami can't track them down in time." Urahara replied gravely, his gray orbs showing no traces of humor.

Realization dawned on the younger Shinigami's face. "Ch, I get it. And do you know what? THAT'S THE MOST GOD DAMN STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD FROM YOU! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

Not at all listening to the other's ranting, Urahara found his fingernails to be more interesting. "Hmm? Do you know what's quite fascinating? I overheard from your former classmates that you had an interesting little name that you haven't told me yet. . . 'Crybaby Ichi' was it? Hmm? Quite the title, I wonder why though?"

"All right! All right! I'm leaving already!" He stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door extra hard. If Urahara didn't know any better, he could have sworn that his Vice Captain was flushing crimson.

Slyly looking out of the corner of his eyes, he snapped his fan shut. "And how long have you been there. . . Yoruichi-san?" The man grinned slightly while pretending to feign naivety.

"Long time no see, Kisuke." The woman stepped out from the shadows as she winked at the blonde haired captain. "So, what are you planning now?" Yoruichi covertly asked as she slightly smirked at the man.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Urahara batted his eyelashes together innocently, fanning himself again. "Whatever can Yoruichi-san mean? Am I doing something wrong?" He grinned widely at his old friend, knowing that she wasn't fooled for a second.

Giving him a studious stare, before carefully inspecting her fingernails. "You know, I'm glad that you stopped your research on that. They would had kicked you out of Soul Society for that if you did go through with it."

Chuckling quietly, the Twelfth Taichou said in a low voice, "Maa, I'm so glad that you managed to remember after all this time. After all, it has been almost a hundred years now. I'm flattered."

"Don't be." Yoruichi snorted. She yawned and stretched to get the kinks out of her back. "It's nice to see you out of the Laboratory time to time. You should do it more often. Give or take another hundred years without seeing some sunlight and you'll really end up looking dead."

"How sweet! Yoruichi-san really cares about my well-being! I'm touched," Urahara fawned, dramatically snapping his fan open. After a minute's thought, his face turned serious as he stared into molten amber orbs. "If I told you that the reason I stopped my research was because I finished, what will you do?"

"Slap you silly and pretend that I didn't hear you. I really must be going now. I promised to visit Soi Fong today- some knit-knack social occasion. Care to join me?" The woman breezily dismissed Urahara's earlier comment and opened the sliding door, the sunlight streaming into the enclosed room.

"Well. . ." The Twelfth Captain pretended to carefully consider his options (Not that she was giving him any) as Yoruichi gripped him by his Captain's Haori and dragged him outside. It would be a lie to say that the sun didn't temporally blind him, and also he didn't look remarkably paler in contrast to the dark skinned woman- but he allowed himself to be lead by the Brigade of the First Division without compliant.

After all, even with all his powers- a woman scorned was much more frightening by ten fold.

- - - - - -

"And just how the hell am I supposed to beat that monster without my Shinigami powers you annoying Son-of-a-Bitch!" The Soul Reaper swore at his Captain while the girl below shrieked- that damn Hollow lunged for its meal as it missed. "I must be out of my mind. . ."

He jumped- from three stories up- and remarkably landed on the monster without going 'SPLAT!' against the pavement. Hanging on with for his dear life, the God of Death cursed in three different languages in one breath. If he had his hands free, he would have slapped his forehead. That stupid Brat wasn't running away!

"Calm down Karin. . . You're just seeing things. . ." The girl rationally told herself, stepping backwards away from what she could dimly see a freaking monster that wasn't there a few minutes ago. "There's no way. . ."

"Hey! You dumbass! What the hell are you doing? Run away!" The teen with the bleached hair roared, clinging onto the Hollow while being tossed up and down. It felt like he was riding a bull. The Monster turned to follow the girl, but this damn thing was on its back! "The hell you do!" Ichigo gritted his teeth together and kicked.

Karin having seen more then enough turned around and spirited as she could, not caring if she was really going in the right direction home. This is insane! What's going on!

Having the girl gone, Ichigo sighed in relief before being bucked off- flying thirty feet into the air wasn't how he was going to kill this Hollow, but it was a start. Landing on his feet with surprising grace, the teen dashed forward and began to form the necessary handseals for a Kidou spell.

"Dominator! Mask of flesh and blood all living beings, fluttering. That which has the name human. Truth and temperance. Slightly imbed your claws into the walls of innocent dreams. Destructive Art 33. Blue fireball!" Ichigo roared, firing a massive attack that was amplified by his enormous Reiatsu.

Sliding under the Hollow's legs, the orange haired boy smirked to himself the smoke billowed mysteriously around. "Well, that was easy. . . I can't believe that the Destructive Art spells are so cheesy though. . ." he muttered, remembering the first time he tired learning the spell. His cheeks turned red as Ichigo deadpanned.

"Ha, ha! I won't be defeated so easily! Foolish Shinigami! I shall devour that girl's soul and you'll be next!" The Hollow's legs scrabbled across the pavement and disappeared into the night, its disemboweled laughter mocking the Soul Reaper.

"WHAT THE HELL? GET THE HELL BACK HERE YOU STUPID HOLLOW!" Ichigo started running after the damn monster, immediately regretting not having the ease of being practically weightless in his Shinigami form. "I've. . . really . . . need to work out more. . ." He wheezed while following its destructive wake of chaos.

Karin finally slowed down and peered cautiously over her shoulder to see if the monster or that boy was following her. "What was that thing?" She breathed quietly to herself, still unable to stop shaking.

Badump.

Badump.

Badump.

Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she whirled around to see a pair of eerie yellow eyes staring at her while a white porcelain mask wickedly leered down. Karin screamed, shutting her eyes- feeling its foul breath against her skin.

Hot red crimson blood splashed all over her face, but there was no pain. The young girl gasped in surprise when the boy with bleached hair stood in front of her, with that monster's teeth lodged firmly in his shoulder- as a steady blue aura glowed from the said source.

"Hey, little girl. . . You're okay, right?" He spoke with a deep voice, albeit unsteady. The blue glow around him started to glow brighter and brighter until it was practically unbearable to look; it was blinding to the eye. "Time for you to die Hollow. . ." He breathed deeply before mumbling an incantation and forming weird handseals with his free hand.

Blood pooled under his shoes, but he made no notice to the pain that he should be in. Karin paled at the amount of redness all around her- and her mouth refused to function properly (AKA: She couldn't scream).

"Destructive Art 33. Blue fireball!" Ichigo annihilated the Hollow away with his attack, leaving only cinders and smoke. The teen wearily slumped forwards and fell ungracefully on the asphalt road, watching the scarlet liquid stream from his painful and gaping wound and puddle around.

Great, he was going to die again for the second time (Can he die in a Gigai?), and he also had the girl to worry about. Maybe she could dismiss this as all a figment of her imagination? Oh no, he tired not to moan- the stupid brat was coming closer. What could possibly go wrong now?

Boom!

Drip. Drip. . .

Pitter-patter.

VOOSH!

Aw, it's starting to rain. . . Ichigo cursed his luck and his God Damn idiot of a Captain as the steady throb of pain in his shoulder worsened into an excruciating burning sensation. Chocolate orbs fluttered briefly before closing, the Soul Reaper falling into a swirling darkness that invited him to rest. Good, even the pain was going away now. . .

Karin's breathing had returned to normal, but her heart was still pounding against her chest. This guy. . . and there was this Monster Mask thing. . . and he blew him up with a fireball! Her mind struggled to comprehend what just had happened. And he got hurt when that Monster Mask tired to eat me and now he's dying. . .

"KUSO! HE'S REALLY DYING!" Her eyes widened in shock and she gripped his shirt and started to drag him in the general direction of the Clinic. "C'mon, don't die on me! I haven't even thanked you for saving my life!" She blinked the rain out of her eyes, and as well as the tears.

At least the rain was doing some good- it was cleaning up the bloody mess.

To say that Kurosaki Isshin would be prepared when his daughter brought home her first boy would be the truth. To say that he had foreseen her bringing home a bloody mess of a dripping wet teenager would be a big fat lie. He had expected more of a moonlit night with a romantic candlelight dinner and flowers- not a medical emergency. (Not that he would have let his precious daughter near a boy in the first place.)

"Oyaji! Help him! He's. . . He's. . ." Karin sounded frightened as well as near as panic-stricken. She wasn't even sure if he was still breathing! The girl allowed her father a whole three seconds to absorb what was going on before he burst into hysterics.

"OH NO! HE'S DYING! SOMEBODY GET HELP! IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE!" Isshin cried out, running into the kitchen. "MISAKI! THERE'S A DYING KID IN THE LIVING ROOM!"

The pretty woman, alarmed but remaining calm, took off her apron and hung it on the hook. "Anata, I need you to calm down. Yuzu! Yuzu, dear! I need you to prepare a bed in the clinic! Karin, honey. . ." She gave a startled gasp when she saw the patient- a horrible sensation of déjà vu made her knees weak. ". . . Set him down on the couch. . ."

"Kaasan? What's wrong?" The girl carefully put the bloody mess on the sofa, her heart skipping a beat. "What's going on?" She made no notice of her father- still running around like a headless chicken- and stared at her mother.

"That boy. . ." Masaki whispered, unable to continue. "Karin honey, doesn't he look. . ." The woman paled before Yuzu came down, distantly hearing her other daughter say that everything was ready. "Anata. . . please . . ."

Isshin finally calmed down enough to carry the orange-haired teen, as he gave his darling wife a funny look. He knew that his questions would be answered later and hefted the deadweight into the clinic section of their house.

"Kaasan, do you know him?" Yuzu asked quietly, slipping her hand into her mother's for comfort- she certainly looked like she needed it.

Shaking her head to clear her jumbled thoughts, Masaki quickly followed her husband. "Oh Yuzu. . . Doesn't he look like your brother?" She said breathlessly, afraid to admit to herself that this boy was not her son.

"Kaasan, you know that I can't remember Oniichan."

"Well, he might be your brother's ghost- he looks so much like him. . ."

". . . My brother's ghost?"